tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post111516451751655691..comments2023-12-17T19:35:07.459-08:00Comments on Bouphonia: Goddamn Loudmouthed Bloggers: A Critical ReappraisalPhilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1159910620475513932006-10-03T14:23:00.000-07:002006-10-03T14:23:00.000-07:00I, for one think the EMP threat is huge. After re...I, for one think the EMP threat is huge. After reading the Congressional panel's report, I'm left wondering why MORE folks aren't preparing in case doomsday strikes! It's not just a matter of throwing money at systems to harden them. Some things like high voltage transmission lines and electrical power substations CANNOT be protected and still perform their functions. We'd have to have redundant parts for every piece of electrical transmission hardware, and maybe store them in underground, hardened bunkers, AND STILL it could take months or years to install all of those pieces. In the meantime, the financial system collapses due to no corporations being in business anymore, people out of work, out of food, and out of clean water.<BR/><BR/>Back in the 60's, there were still a lot of vacuum tubes around that would survive. But since the explosion of integrated circuits and microelectronics, there hasn't been any above ground nuclear testing, and no nuclear weapon testing at all for quite some time. We don't know fully the effects on our new computers, but they could all be easily fried.<BR/><BR/>What about the missile tests the Iranians have been conducting from ships. All they have to do is get one or a few missiles launched from one or a few small ships, and they've got an anonymous EMP attack. Who do we strike back at?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1115316344389627832005-05-05T11:05:00.000-07:002005-05-05T11:05:00.000-07:00Well, if an EMP knocks out the TV news, it won't b...Well, if an EMP knocks out the TV news, it won't be all bad.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1115226059440969672005-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:002005-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00Shielding is expensive. But Safeguard and SDI cost...Shielding <I>is</I> expensive. But Safeguard and SDI cost something along the lines of $75 billion, and bought us very little indeed. <BR/><BR/>I don't know the total cost for EMP shielding. I do know that if failing to do it it leaves the USA vulnerable to destruction by a single bomb, it should've been done no matter what the cost...especially since "winnable nuclear war" has been the mantra of Rumsfeld and his ilk for decades. $75 billion might not've done the trick. But it would've gone a long way, I bet. So would the $170 billion (or however much it is to date) that we've spent on Iraq. <BR/><BR/>Of course, I suspect that an awful lot of critical electronic infrastructure <I>has</I> been hardened over the last thirty years, and that the EMP doomsday scenarios are exaggerated at best. But if anyone wants to argue otherwise, I'm very happy to have that conversation...it has interesting implications.Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-1115188286017533292005-05-03T23:31:00.000-07:002005-05-03T23:31:00.000-07:00I went to the bookstore the other day, and beheld ...I went to the bookstore the other day, and beheld the latest tome by Saint Jerome Corsi. (He of swift boat mendacity)<BR/><BR/>"Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians"<BR/><BR/>It had a scary cover.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if there are bookstores in Iran with titles like "Nuclear US"<BR/><BR/>----<BR/><BR/><BR/>I believe the reason EMP shielding never progressed very far is because it is so expensive.<BR/><BR/>Stuff that is buried - like say, our nuclear weapons - hardened and likely unaffected.<BR/><BR/>Television? BLAMMO! Internet? Poof! All transisters shaken & stirred.JMShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199754488740884930noreply@blogger.com